Juveniles can be placed on probation as punishment. The terms of probation can vary case by case, but whatever the terms and conditions are, they must be followed. If a juvenile on probation violates the conditions/sanctions of probation, a Violation of Probation (VOP) petition will be filed. The Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) or the State Attorney’s Office (SAO) is required to bring the child before a court on probation violation charges prior to the expiration of the probationary period.
If a VOP is filed and the juvenile admits the violation or the court finds that the juvenile violated probation, the court may revoke, modify, or continue the juvenile’s probation, as well as impose sanctions that were available at the original disposition hearing. The court could then commit the juvenile to the DJJ. A juvenile who violates his or her probation is subject to separate punishments for each violation.
FURTHER READING
GUIDELINES
How to be Successful at Juvenile Probation from Your Assistant Public Defender
SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES
“Predictors of Juveniles’ Noncompliance with Probation Requirements” by Amanda NeMoyer, Naomi E. S. Goldstein, Rhonda L. McKitten, Ana Prelic, Jenna Ebbecke, Erika Foster, and Casey Burkard, Law and Human Behavior (2014)
Abstract: Probation is the most common disposition for adjudicated youth, but little is known about which specific requirements are commonly imposed on juveniles, the requirements with which juveniles most often fail to comply, and how certain youth characteristics and/or imposed requirements might relate to probation noncompliance. An investigation of 120 archived files of youth represented by an urban public defender’s office identified 29 probation requirements imposed on youth and 18 requirements with which youth commonly failed to comply. Results revealed that 52% of youth failed to comply with at least one probation requirement; prior probation noncompliance and race were both significantly associated with noncompliance in the examined probation disposition. In addition, the probability of probation noncompliance was significantly higher when youth received either of two substance-related probation requirements: drug tests or drug and alcohol counseling. Such results may prompt further investigation of juvenile probation-related predictors, identify areas of need for clinical service provision to foster successful completion of probation requirements, and help identify areas of potential biases among juvenile court personnel. Purchase access to the full article.